The Ancient Roots of Halloween
Halloween, as we know it, as well as many of the traditions associated with Halloween are a mixture of ancient religious practices that have been modified throughout the ages.
The Festival of Samhein
In order to explore the history of Halloween, we must go back in time about 3000 years to the archaic culture of the Celts. These were people who occupied the British Isles and France and could be found throughout other parts of Europe as well. This ancient people were like many other pre-Christian cultures practicing polytheism by worshipping the sun and moon as well as many other deities.
On the evening preceding the Celtic New Year, November 1, the Celts observed the festival of Samhein, pronounced (SAH-wen). This celebratory time was very important from a seasonal perspective. Samhein was the time by which all the crops had to be harvested and the domesticated animals were brought in for the winter. Obviously, many of the farm animals had to be slaughtered because there was not room to house all of them over the cold winter months. Because of this, Samhein became a great feasting time – a feast that honored Samhein, the Lord of the Dead. During Samhein, the spirits of the dead were believed to be able to wander the earth and visit their loved ones.
Although this was one of four major festivals of the Celtic year and it was a time of celebration, it also evolved into a time of trepidation for many. The ancient culture began to fear these spirits that were loosed on earth for a short time. They developed rituals such as lighting bonfires to scare the evil spirits away and the wearing of masks to blend in so the presumably hideous looking spirits would not bother the living population. Their ghostly white-robed priests, called Druids, would also be called upon to bless a sacred fire. Each household would carry a sacred ember home in order to ward off the presence of evil. Another eerie ritual performed on October 31 was the practice of human sacrifice. Criminals and other undesirables were put into large cages and burned alive at the hand of the Druid priests.
Roman and Christian Influence on Halloween
In the first century A.D., the Romans conquered Great Britain and subsequently began to impart Roman culture on existing Celtic culture. The Romans had their own version of fall feasting demonstrated by the feast of Feralia, which was the Roman day of the dead, as well as a feast dedicated to the goddess of fruit, Pomona.
During the third and fourth centuries Catholicism was introduced and Christians attempted to alter established pagan rituals. In an attempt to put a Christian slant on Halloween, religious leaders instituted All Saints’ Day or All Hallow’s Day. This fall celebration honored Christian saints as people attended extra masses. It also became a time to offer prayers for the deceased and visit their graves. Halloween got its name a few hundred years later when November 1 was declared a church wide holiday and the evening before was dubbed All Hallows’ Eve, hallow being an Old English word for “holy”.
Getting dressed in costumes, attending parties, bobbing for apples, and trick or treating are just some of the Halloween activities that many children and adults look forward to every fall. Few people are aware that they are shadowing ancient traditions as they celebrate Halloween. Our fall holiday full of spooky, scary fun is a rich conglomeration of ancient religious and cultural rites that have evolved into our modern day tradition known as Halloween.
Written by MelissaMurphy
Professional Life Coach, Freelance writer
Spirit Halloween Store NY 2008
A Short History of Halloween and Tocobaga Indians
Halloween is an evening celebrated by people of all faiths especially children dressed up as ghosts and skeletons. Halloween is a historical celebration held in evening and night of the 31st October every year. When talking about history, a unique tribe of Native American people lived in the vicinity of Tampa Bay in Florida called the Tocobaga Indians.
The history of Halloween has a lot of meaning Halloween which has been almost lost as we celebrate our modern version but its roots are still well known making a great story for children before they set off on their mission to frighten and entertain.
The Tocobaga Indians were actually a maritime tribe who survived on fish and whatever they could hunt in the locality or trade with distant tribes. They were a highly developed tribe with a social structure based around chiefdoms with institutionalized social inequality between various classes which were similar to the caste system of other cultures like the medieval Europe and Hindu India.
The legend of Haloween comes from thousands of years ago. The Celtic people of Western Europe particularly the British Isles and Western France believed that on the last day of summer, the barriers between the living world and the kingdom of the dead would open allowing spirits and saints to pass among the living. Evil spirits would scare people from door to door and unlucky person who was caught would be taken back to the kingdom of the dead. It was a terrifying night and people lighted great fires and offered sacrifices calm down the evil spirits until the barriers had closed again the next day.
A symbol of Halloween is a hollowed out pumpkin carved into a scary face with a candle lit inside giving it a scary look. This pumpkin is known as Jack o’ lantern. This was a favorite tradition that started in USA spreading to other parts of the world. Halloween changed in the 19th and 20th centuries from a religious celebration to an annual holiday.
The Tocobagan Indians were the most peaceful tribe although their society did practice slavery and a person generally remained in their caste with little chance to improve to a higher status. They were highly structured and always built around a central plaza which would feature the pyramidal mound in larger settlements upon which the chief’s house and the village temple would be built.
The Tocobaga was a dominant Indian tribe in the Tampa Bay area. However, they disappeared from the history in 18th century. Their archeological remains were found and a Tocobaga Indian mound is situated in Florida’s Philippe Park which is a National Historic Landmark known as the Safety Harbor Site.
Also learn the detailed history of Halloween and also the history of Tocobaga Indians
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The History of Halloween ? or ? What is Samhain?
Samhain, pronounced sow-wen, is a Celtic word meaning “summer’s end.” It is also the Irish Gaelic word for the month of November. Samhain is the last of three harvest festivals in the Celtic year, and it is the Celtic New Year. The Celts only recognized two seasons: summer, and winter. So, with the last harvest, the summer ends, and the cold, dark, dangerous days of winter begin. Any food that was not brought in from the fields by the end of the day on October 31, Samhain, was left in the fields and not eaten. It was considered to belong to the fairy folk at that point, and would make anyone sick who tried to eat it.
The food in the storerooms by this time was all the food you were going to get between this first day of winter and the coming spring. It had to last through the cold, dark winter months. Starvation was always a possibility. Livestock was slaughtered at this time, both to preserve meat for the winter months, and to cull the herd. With fewer animals to feed, the ones that were left would have a better chance of survival until spring. This is one reason why death and the dead are associated with this day.
Facing the long, deadly winter, unsure of your food supply, with no central heating, you would have to brave the elements and the dangers of the forest to gather all the wood you would need to keep yourself warm. With the days getting shorter and shorter, you would start wondering if the sun was ever going to come back. The wild animals would get hungrier and more aggressive as the winter got harder for everyone. All made this day, marking the beginning of the winter season, one of fear and danger. But it was also a day of celebration, akin to the American Thanksgiving — thanking the gods for the blessings of a bountiful harvest.
To the Celts, “between” times and places were very important. At these points, the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest, and communication between the fairy realm, the land of the dead, and the human world is much easier. “Between” places include doorways between one room and another, or between inside and outside; or the seashore, marking the meeting of earth and sea. “Between” times include dusk and dawn, marking the transitions from night to day, and day to night; and in more recent centuries, midnight, representing the transition between one calendar day and the next.
The transitions between seasons are even more important “between” times. The transition from winter to summer at Beltaine (May 1), and the transition from summer to winter at Samhain, were the two most important days of the Celtic year; but Samhain was the most important, because it also marked the transition from one year to the next. Ergo, it is at this time that the veil between the worlds is thinnest, and communication between the world of the living and the world of our deceased ancestors, the fairy folk, and other spirits is easiest. This is also a good night for divination for that reason.
At this harvest celebration, when the veil between the world of the living and the dead is at its thinnest, one’s ancestors are therefore honored and venerated. Hospitality was very important to the ancient Celts. They would leave food out on their hearth, or out on their front step, as an offering to the spirits of their ancestors, whom they believed would visit them on this night. Offerings of food or milk were also left out for the fairies, and some Wiccans today invite fairy beings into their homes to share their hospitality with them for the winter. The Celts also extended this hospitality to wandering travelers and beggars, because Celts considered it very bad luck to withhold hospitality from anyone in need.
But the thinness of the veil between the worlds also allowed more dangerous spirits to wander into the human realm, so Samhain was also a time of fear and foreboding. These two ideas influenced our modern custom of “trick or treating” at Halloween (our modern name for Samhain). Today, wandering beggars in the form of children, dress up as horrible spirits that go from door to door begging for food, and threatening pranks if they are not appeased. That is a very recent tradition, however, invented in America.[1]
The carved pumpkins we call jack-o’-lanterns also have their root in ancient hospitality. The Celts did not have pumpkins in the Old World, as we have here in America; pumpkin is a New World fruit. So rather than carving pumpkins, the Celts used turnips and gourds. They hollowed out the inside, and put candles in them to create a lantern. Then they would set a light out each evening to let any wandering strangers know that hospitality was available at that particular home. However, to frighten away the evil spirits that might also be out wandering, these home owners would take the precaution to carve ugly faces into the lanterns, to scare anything nasty away.
Many ancient pagan holidays, including those of the Celts, were adapted by the Christian church in an attempt to convert pagans to Christianity. Many of the traditions of Yule, such as the decorated evergreen tree, became the traditions of Christmas. Many of the traditions of the spring equinox, such as decorating eggs, became customs of Easter. And many practices of Samhain became the traditions of Halloween.[2]
“Hallow” means “sacred.” For example, “hallowed ground” means a place that has been blessed and is appropriate for burial. The suffix “-een” is short for “evening,” the night before a holiday. Halloween, like our New Year’s Eve, is therefore the celebration before the actual holiday, in this case November 1, dubbed “All Saints Day” by the Catholic Church. Halloween is also known as “All Souls Day,” following the tradition that this is a time to celebrate the dead and commemorate them.
There are several misconceptions and outright lies that are spread by religious fundamentalists about Samhain every year, in an attempt to get Halloween banned. The first is that the holiday is of Druidic origin; the Druids were a priestly class of the Celts, but they were a very late manifestation of the Celtic religion. The Celts were practicing their religion for thousands of years before the priestly class of the Druids developed.
Another misconception is that the ancient Romans adopted Samhain and added their traditions to it; however, the traditions of Halloween, as we know them, have come down to us from Ireland. Ireland was never conquered by the Romans. Samhain was also celebrated by the Picts in Scotland, but the Picts were never conquered by the Romans, either. The only territory in the British Isles that the Romans successfully conquered was England.
Another error is that Samhain is pronounced Sam Hane and is the name of a Celtic god of the dead. The Celts had no god of the dead.[3] Samhain is also not pronounced that way, it is pronounced “Sow-ween,” due to the odd way Irish Gaelic ended up being spelled when written in English letters. There is a very minor character in Celtic mythology that has a name with a similar spelling, but he has nothing to do with death or with that particular holiday.
Some people also claim that at this holiday the souls of the dead were supposed to move into the bodies of animals if they had been “sinful,” and that human sacrifice was practiced. The Celts did not believe in sin, nor in reincarnation or the transmigration of souls. The Celts also did not practice human sacrifice, with the exception of the execution of criminals, which we still practice in America today.
Halloween in America is now a completely secular holiday. Though it still maintains some of its harvest festival roots, there is no longer any religious or spiritual significance to the practices of bobbing for apples, trick or treating, and dressing up in costume.
Samhain, however, is still observed by Wiccans and other Pagans for its spiritual significance in the Wheel of the Year, the cycle of holidays that mark transition points in the natural solar cycle.
[1] Because Samhain represented the transition between years, it could not belong to one year or the next. Since time did not technically exist during this period, other societal rules were suspended as well, creating the necessary atmosphere to allow people to vent frustrations, often by playing practical jokes on each other. This may be the precursor to the pranks practiced at Halloween today.
[2] A lot of the associations of Halloween, from black cats to dressing up in costumes, to witches, are more associated with Germanic tradition and Walpurgisnacht, which is associated with May Day, rather than the Celtic tradition or Samhain.
[3] A couple of sources list Gwynn ap Nudd as a British god of the dead, and Arawn as a Welsh god of the dead, but there is no Irish equivalent.
***
For Part II of this article, “A Subtle Samhain Celebration -or-What to Do If You Don’t Live Alone” visit www.careandfeedingofspirits.com. Part II provides instructions for how to take advantage of this season to contact deceased loved ones on the other side of the veil of death, as well as other subtle ways to mark the holiday. But hurry! It will only be available through October 31, 2008. After that it will go back into the vaults.
Have a blessed Samhain, and a happy Halloween!
BB,
Vivienne
Bibliography
Isaac Bonewitz, “The Real Origins of Halloween,” version 4.5, © 1997 and 2002, http://www.neopagan.net/halloween-origins-text.html, downloaded 9/19/03.
“Halloween Errors and Lies, or What Fundamentalist Christians Don’t Want You to Know,” version 4.4, © 1997, 2002; http://www.neopagan.net/halloween-lies.html, 9/19/03.
B.A. Robinson, “the Myth of Samhain, Celtic God of the Dead,” © 1998-2001 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, last updated 10/19/01,
One festival seemingly at odds with the overall nature of festivities must be that of the one occurring every October 31, the Halloween. Why? Here is one festival the basis for celebration is that stemming not from joyous things but scary things. This is the festival for ghosts, ghouls, goblins and monsters. The nature of Halloween has inspired thousands of horror movies, plays and television shows and shows no signs of it going out of style or fans anytime soonIHave you ever realized that how modern day film flicks and television shows have churned newer ghost ideas for the generation next. Halloween has its own rich history. October 31 is a momentous day for you and your peers, who get an opportunity to showcase your wildest antics. This festival is daring for all the reasons. You explore new, exciting and peculiar dressing and hardly leave anything behind when it comes to scare someone. That you play a monster; appear like a ghost, disguise as a goblin or ghoul is all you do at HalloweenIStyles hardly die down, so does the history of Halloween. This is a special occasion for you to turn a bit scary. Halloween culture remains an inspiration for several artistic entertainment ideas being adapted into film or television medium. This festival is expressive of many untoward and amusing expressions. You do scary activities and feel pleasure in appearing like a ghost. You also encounter a monster, goblin or ghoul which might scare you a bit. But hold on: the naughty element is one of your friends. Halloween is all about fun and a tradition which die not.
For a scare fest festival, the origins of Halloween is still religious in nature. It is said to be similar to the All Saints Days of the Christian’s celebration and supposedly originated from Europe, namely Ireland. Another version has it that Halloween’s is a Gaelic celebration named Sam Hain held towards the end of the harvesting season, which occurs at the end of October. From the point of view in interesting origins, this one has it that Sam Hain is also the day when the boundary that separate the world of living from that of the dead and the demised would simmer and thin down, before dissolving in certain particular spots and locationsIHistory of Halloween is based upon several presumptions. The mystery prevails due to religious importance of Halloween. One presumption is that it resembles famous Christmas celebration All Saints Day. This trend was incepted in Ireland. Likewise another story is unique one which describes that Halloween is a Gaelic celebration named Sam Hain. It is organized by the end of harvesting season in the late October. The later assumption is considered more meaningful according to the mythical story that Sam Hain is symbolic of a special day – metaphor for a thin layer of separating the living beings and the dead who would merge at a particular place and occasion on HalloweenIThere are many interesting stories associated with Halloween. One story is here that it is a replica of the All Saints Days of the Christian’s celebration broadening its religious importance. Having its roots in the European country, Ireland, Halloween has another story of its origin which is still believed the most. Organized at the end of the harvesting season which falls at the last day of October, Halloween is considered symbolic of the Gaelic celebration called Sam Hain. According to this religious belief, it has importance due to its mystic identity that Halloween is symbolic of an occasion when the thin layer between the living beings and the dead ones would end.
Now, amongst these spirits would be some particularly restless ones, those with unfinished business and those who harbors evil intention against the world of the living for one reason or another. These are the spirits which would cross over and wreak havoc onto the world of the living, bringing both sickness to the people and destroying the crops and the animals. These are the spirits that must be prevented from doing so with offerings by the local pagan chiefs of old. It is said that these religious heads would throw the skeletal remains of farm animals into bonfires made at these locations where the spirits are to cross over.
This mystic festival turn funny where children have all the fun. At this unique celebration, adults too don’t lag behind and wear scary costumes. Here a belief is translated into fun filled reality when the group leader performs the rituals to keep the evil souls away and the herd of mask wearing youngsters’ dance around the flames in scary costumes to let the evil souls get confused of this hallucinating situation. The evil souls would not come forward presuming that some of their members are already at that venue. This interesting idea keeps an age old tradition of wearing ghostly costumes alive.
You are hardly made accountable for your rustic acts therefore you get an opportunity to wear Count Dracula, Frankenstein, Mummy and various other such costumes in Halloween. Your disguising dressing sense appeals everybody and children too remain in the party mood by sharing your pleasure. At this particular occasion, the costume manufacturers produce various types of designer and fashionable Halloween’s couple‘s costumes which you wear to flaunt your dressing sense. In the meanwhile the manufacturers too get an opportunity for some extra sale.
Halloween sexy costumes are trendsetters for the best of seductive dressing. Partying couples can choose the best designer costumes for a Gothic scary festivity you plan. You can choose Count Dracula and his incubus out of the many wildest dresses which are wonderful sensual costumes keeping you ascertained to pure Halloween spirit. If you long to expose much skin and cleavage of yours, go for the see through Victorian costume of the incubus. The currently added Vampirella dress would turn you extremely seductive. This exclusive sexy costume prepared by blood red fabric instigates you expose your curves. Its low down neckline, bare back and expressive slits go up to the waist. You get a chance to expose your creamy long legs lest you have anything more to expose for the ‘greedy’ onlookers for peeping view.
The organizers of most of the adult Halloween parties plan for thematic ideas in it. They do this to specify best Halloween spirit in your party. Such specialization keeps your Halloween at par where each of your attending guests is solaced with themed activities, and the guests enjoy a complete funny experience. Specialized Halloween parties are highly exciting plus enormous in nature unlike the traditional simple ones. It provides a platform for both children and adults to enjoy a fun filled party.
Raymond Plona is the owner of aperfectcostume where he showcases adult costumes and kid‘s costumes for different themes. Some of the costumes available are Halloween sexy costumes, plus size adult costumes, costumes for couples, dreamgirl costumes, Santa suit costumes and many more.
Halloween Activities, Using Classroom Technology & Multiple Intelligences for Classroom Lesson Plans
Shh…don’t tell anyone, because I would never want to sound like a party pooper, but I do have to quietly admit to you that holiday parties have never been a favorite time in the classroom for me. I don’t know, 30 kids wired up on excitement, sugar, and costumes…what am I missing?
So, with that in mind, I’ve always tried to sneak in learning activities that have the disguise of holiday celebrations! When I was a classroom teacher my holiday parties strongly resembled “center activities” where students moved from one activity to the next. Kids know how to do this normal classroom routine and this kept craziness to a minimum.
Holiday activities can still meet content and technology standards yet be disguised as holiday activities. Really, many of the best school activities that we can remember from our childhood are probably activities that we enjoyed foremost, and if we reflected really hard, we’d find learning behind the scenes.
Keeping the multiple intelligences in mind, we can have students engaged in activities that meet those intelligences while celebrating the “second most popular holiday” Halloween. We can focus on internet research and information gathering while learning about the history of Halloween. After all, actually reading and gathering information to share with others is an important skill. Using visual and spacial intelligence students can create an imaginary map of Transylvania and include a required list of objects and areas along with a key, compass rose, and title.
Using interpersonal intelligence the children can write group stories. Each child writes a beginning of a story and after five minutes the computers all shift to the right (or the children shift if you are using desktop machines.) After four or five shifts the stories return to the original child so an ending can be added. Share with the class.
Designing recipes for Halloween potions and then changing the amount of ingredients to serve 15, 30, or 5 guests will inspire the logical/mathematical minds to engage!
How about using the verbal/linguistic aspects of the minds to create creative epitaphs. So often we see Halloween displays in local yards with interesting gravestones. Write some for yourself and have your students write some for themselves and their family members.
Bodily/Kinesthetic learners will enjoy a rousing game of charades based upon October or Halloween careers. Who will act out the mortician? How about the scarecrow? Can you be an apple picker?
Some radio stations have been known to begin playing Christmas carols immediately following Halloween. Where are all the Halloween carols? The musical intelligence within us will inspire Halloween carols. Review some online and then create your own.
I have done many of these activities in the computer lab; especially the history lesson, the map drawing (using KidPix), and the epitaph creation (using KidPix). I’ve used laptops with groups to do the interpersonal story writing.
Hopefully some of these activities will help you continue to make kids think and expand their minds while also celebrating the holiday season.
So, sneak in learning when you can under whatever disguise is required!
Download the free packet of reproducibles of these activities at http://technologylessonsforteachers.com
Kathy Cothran is an elementary media specialist committed to helping teachers turn toys into learning tools. Her vast teaching experience ranges from preschool through Master’s level education classes. For years Kathy has been a “Gadget Girl.” She loves technology! Tie that to her extensive teaching background and she has been able to interest, invigorate, and inspire children and teachers to use technology in a rich, exciting manner.
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